CAPUTO: Seahawks prove team trumps the QB - even Peyton Manning

Denver Broncos' Peyton Manning is hit by Seattle Seahawks' Cliff Avril as he throws an interception during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Broncos’ QB Peyton Manning is being widely skewered in the aftermath. It was a legacy-sealing moment for Manning, but not the type many anticipated. He lost the big game. He didn’t win it. Once more.

This trend began in college for Manning, when Tennessee couldn’t beat Florida. It continued in the NFL with Indianapolis as the New England Patriots had Manning’s number in the playoffs. Manning has his one Super Bowl victory, which is light compared to the rest of laurels.

Is it fair to Manning? Is it fair to any quarterback to expect they can single-handedly win such a big game?

It’s been rare in the 48 years of the Super Bowl what would be described as an average quarterback has won it. Trent Dilfer with the Ravens following the 2000 season. Brad Johnson with the Bucs following 2002. Jeff Hostetler with the New York Giants in the 1980s. Mark Rypien didn’t have a great career, but he had an excellent season with the Redskins in 1991.

However, early Super Bowl-winning and Hall of Fame QBs such as Green Bay’s Bart Starr, Miami’s Bob Griese and Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw were on great teams with excellent running attacks and stellar defenses.

Our perception of the QBs changed with the Joe Montana and Steve Young and the 49ers, and grew to the point where we started to see the Patriots as more about Tom Brady, the Saints Drew Brees and the Packers Aaron Rodgers than their teams overall.

It’s indisputable how much NFL offenses have relied on the pass. We’ve come to see teams as all about the QB. The running game has been enormously devalued. Even defense has been devalued.

But the Seahawks run better than they pass. Their defense is not only stout, but it repeatedly makes big plays and dominates.

Manning didn’t play well Sunday, but didn’t have much of a chance. Seattle rushed just four, and was still able to crowd the line of scrimmage because of its pass rush and the ability of its entire secondary to stick to Denver’s receivers.

Denver was too much Peyton Manning, not enough of the Broncos collectively. It was accelerated because of the course the game took from the onset, but it wasn’t much different than what the New York Giants did to Brady during the Patriots’ last two Super Bowls appearances, both upset losses.

Wilson was excellent early in the game, converting his first four third-down passes for first downs. While it is considered a knock on Wilson to refer to him as a game manager, it’s a compliment to Seahawks as a whole.

They can beat you in a number of ways. Russell Wilson is just one of them.

If you stop Manning, you stop the Broncos. It’ kind of like if you stop Brady, you stop the Patriots. Or if you stop Brees, you stop the Saints…right on down the line to if you stop Matthew Stafford, you stop the Lions.

The Seahawks presented the old blueprint of how to win in the NFL, straight out of the 1960s and 1970s.